A Guide to Finding and Evaluating Information

Ever waste time looking for information on the web? Afraid of getting lost in the library stacks? Finding good information for a research paper is not necessarily difficult, but you can get lost along the way.

This guide aims to help by introducing you to the basics of effective library and information research—basics which will help prevent you from wasting your time during your information hunt, and which will help give you the critical research skills you will need throughout your university experience, in your later career, and for lifelong learning.

Good research requires the use of a variety of information sources. As you will find out within this guide, it will also likely involve finding several publication types, using different discovery tools.

You should start at the UNB Libraries' web site, whether or not you are in the library. If you will be doing some of your research from off campus, make sure you have your e-mail ID and PIN. You will need to use them to access online library resources. Sometimes you will get electronic publications—perhaps e-journal or encyclopedia articles, or whole e-books or dissertations. At other times you will be directed to print material on a library shelf—UNB librarians purchase thousands of print books every year. To make a successful start, take a few minutes to read the five basic steps in this guide.

www.lib.unb.ca

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